Title: The Prime
Genre: Action/Drama, Friendship/Romance
Rating: T for mild transformer swearing, some violence, and crude language
Short Summary:
When a young mech destined to be the next Prime is exiled by his evil uncle, he must learn what it means to become a great leader.
Chapter Three
Nine vorns later...
Every morning was the same as long as he could remember. He would wake at the crack of the dawning stars and watch as the brightest star would raise, shining its brilliant light upon the silver landscape of Cybertron. It made his spark soar every time he saw it. He loved the beautiful sight.
But today was even more special. It was the day his creator had promised that they could watch the stellar eclipse, the day that the distant moon would pass over its brilliant light.
Problem was, his creator wasn't even out of recharge yet. So he made it his duty to go wake him up.
Small feet pounded through the corridors of the palace and a whirl of excitement was chirping out of him. He couldn't wait to go! He couldn't wait to see that beautiful sight that everyone had been talking about. It was going to be a sight that would be etched in his memory banks forever!
Rushing to his creator and carrier's room, he nearly rammed into the slowly opening doors, managing to miss the corner as he dashed inside the darkened room.
"Dad! It's today! Come on! Wake up! Wakey! Wakey!" That small squeaky voice called out as he rushed up to the large berth where they were resting. He stopped himself from jumping up on it, remembering that it would only annoy his creator.
There was only a grunt of stirring from the berth but nothing more.
"Dad! Come on! You need to wake up or we will miss it!" The tiny youngling cried as he stomped his foot. He looked quite put off that his creator wasn't waking the moment he started calling. "Dad, dad, dad, dad, dad!" He began repeating over and over, hoping that being annoying would wake him up.
Still, there was no reaction. He heard his carrier laughing sleepily before murmuring to her mate but the creator still did not wake up.
Scrunching up his face, the youngling backed up several feet before running towards the berth and jumping as high as he could and landing hard on top of his creator's midsection.
"Ooof!" The youngling's creator whooshed out his vents as his optics flashed online, revealing gentle lavender much like his son's. He looked right up at his put out son before scoffing. "St-Starscream, what did I tell you about jumping up on me like that?" He asked in reprimand.
The small red youngling just sat on his chassis, folding his arms in such a bratty way and even pouted angrily. "You promised!" He squeaked at him.
There was a gentle laugh beside the large silvery blue mech and then his beautiful mate sat up, hanging over him just like their son. "That's right, Silverbolt. You did promise him over evening Energon. I think you better get up or he will start screaming. And I think that will probably wake up our other two." She said quirking her brow ridge at him.
"Nuh-uh! I don't want them to come! Besides, Skywarp is a heavy recharger! I think he is deaf when he is in sleep mode." The small youngling stated. He then began bouncing up and down when it looked like his creator was about to go back into recharge. He ignored the reproachful look from his creator when he opened his optics again. "You promised! I thought you didn't break promises!"
Chuckling, Silverbolt wrapped his arms around his smallest and sat up, holding him close to him. "All right, all right. I'm getting up." He said before trying to stifle a huge yawn.
The small Vosian heir giggled excitedly before wriggling to be freed from his creator's arms, but no success. "Dad! Put me down! I can walk!" He squealed.
Silverbolt just laughed as he stood up, keeping his son trapped in his arms. He yawned again before stretching his silver wings out wide. He barely caught the awed look on his son's face and it made him grin. He knew very well that it was Starscream's dream to have such magnificent wings like he did.
But right at the moment, like most sparklings and younglings of his age, they had mere stub of wings until they grew into their botling forms.
Taking a servo, Silverbolt ran it along the small stubs on Starscream's back, making the little one shiver and giggle at the sensation. He recalled that his small wings were his ticklish spots and it made the proud Patriarch of the Seekers smile warmly. "Do not worry, my little Star. You will have your own magnificent wings one day and you will be the fastest Seeker ever to live." He told him.
Starscream merely nodded before his optics lit up and he whirled around his creator's arms. "Hurry! Hurry! We will miss the stellar eclipse!" He said starting to bounce.
Chuckling, Silverbolt walked towards the large balcony of his palace and pushed the doors open. He merely glanced back to see his beautiful mate, Sunblaze, making her way over, allowing the gentle light of their chambers to hit her pale red-pale yellow form. She gave him a smile before looking over her shoulder.
"I think I will go wake the other two. They will be upset if they miss this."
Silverbolt just nodded and watched her go before looking towards the bright morning star in the sky, a dark spot that was the moon was inching ever so closer to cover its brilliance.
"Dad, when I get my wings bigger, can we go flying?" Starscream asked, looking up at his creator.
Silverbolt only nodded as he looked down at his smallest son, smiling gently. "Yes, Little Star. We will go flying. You, your mother and your brothers and I will all fly across the sky over Vos, all in unison and we shall make it known to all that we are the Masters of the Sky." He promised.
Starscream merely smiled, nodding as he looked over the entire beauty of the aerial city. He eyed the high cliffs their city was built into; pure silver metal sticking out high above the valley below. It was the highest city in all of Cybertron. The sky was the limit to the entire Seeker race. It was the one place that all Seekers felt free and safe from all danger.
"Father, will all of this be mine? Will I be the next Ruler of Vos?" Starscream asked dreamily.
Silverbolt frowned for a moment before he shifted Starscream to make him look at him. "Starscream, all of Vos will not just be yours to rule. You are the youngest of your trine brothers. In truth, it will be Thundercracker who is next in line. But because you are triplets and the only of our kind to have split in three, I will make all three of you the new leaders of Vos. Together, you will lead our people to a great era." He said gently.
"Yeah, but I want to be Leader." Starscream pouted.
Silverbolt merely frowned at him before flicking his youngest son's wings with a servo. "Do not be greedy, Starscream. You are equal to your brothers. Do not treat them as such. If you wish to be a great leader of our people, you must learn that not everything is about you. It is about all. Together, all Seekers are one. We share a bond that no one can even begin to dream about. You must remember that. You protect each other, stand as one with each other, and live in an endless dream together. Do you understand?"
Slowly, Starscream nodded, though it was only half true. "Yes." He said in his squeaky voice before grimacing. He knew very well that he had such a voice and some times he hated it. "Will I have a voice like yours? And wings just as good as yours?" He asked grimacing when he squeaked again.
Chuckling, Silverbolt nodded as he held his son closer to his chassis. "Even better than mine, Starscream. But do not be ashamed of your voice. You are still quite young and you will grow into your voice and wings. So be patient. And remember my words. To be a great leader is not about how deep your voice is our how magnificent your wings are. It is about how you use them to protect our people." He told him.
Understanding a little, Starscream nodded before he looked up to see that finally the bright star was being covered. He gasped and point. "Look! It's so pretty!" He said in excitement.
Smiling, Silverbolt turned his gentle lavender optics towards the stellar eclipse, feeling peace wash over him...
And then flooding right back out like a gush of angry energon.
His optics widened as he saw that it was not the moon that covered the brilliant star but something else. There was no way that could have been the moon. It looked too big, too close. And getting closer!
"What the...?!" The Patriarch yelped before holding Starscream closer. He stared long and hard at the incoming mass of metal before his optics widened. "Frag!" He whirled around and started to bolt from the room.
Throwing open his connection channels to all of the Royal Seekers, Silverbolt was rushing to his offsprings' chambers where Sunblaze was still trying to wake a recharging Skywarp. She only jumped along with a sleepy Thundercracker when her mate came in.
"Silverbolt to all Royal Seekers! Sound the Emergency Alarms! Attacking drones are inbound for Vos! Prepare to defend our city! Repeat! We are under attack!" He bellowed.
Sunblaze's brilliant yellow optics widened before she snatched up her other two, rousing Skywarp very quickly. "Silverbolt! What is happening?!" She asked quickly.
For a moment, Silverbolt didn't answer but shoved his youngest into her arms. He spun away from her, dashing towards the large veranda of the triplets' room. "Get to the safe room, Sunblaze! Protect our sparklings! There are Attack drones coming towards Vos!" He yelled over his wings as he snapped them out ward.
"No! Daddy! I want to go with you! I don't want to stay here!" Starscream screeched as he wriggled in his carrier's arms.
"Not now, Starscream! Be good and stay with your mother!" Silverbolt yelled before diving out the window. He clicked loudly as he fell, making a very fast transformation and blasting off into the morning sky towards the drones coming towards their city. He was quickly joined by many of his Seeker Guards, while below the blaring Emergency alarms went off, rousing many still in recharge.
However, some didn't even wake until the explosions of the drones' bombs began to fall upon their once glorious and beautiful city.
It was insane! To think that someone was foolish enough to send attack droids to attack his city! Someone was just asking for war to break out! Oh, when Silverbolt found put who sent these droids, they were going to pay for this! He could already see many of his Seekers fighting and falling from the attacks. He could only speed up his flight patterns and began attacking back!
"No! Daddy! I want Daddy!"
Sunblaze was fighting to keep a hold of her youngest in her arm while pulling Thundercracker along as fast as she could. Her oldest had a tight hold on Skywarp, dragging him along. She needed to get her children to safety as soon as possible. "Starscream! Stop! We don't have time for this right now!" She yelled over her wings.
Bit Starscream kept on struggling in her arm, pushing at her chassis and kicking to break loose.
Suddenly an explosion rocked the building, sending the four Seekers crashing to the ground as the corridor collapsed before them. The three younglings screamed in fright while Sunblaze covered all of them from debris.
A moment of just explosions, the matron of the Seekers looked up and then froze again when she saw droids in front of her and her sparklings. They had turned towards them, whirling threateningly before moving forward to attack with blasters.
Quickly, Sunblaze was on her feet, shoving Starscream behind her towards Thundercracker and ripping out her fire energon blade, lunging forward to slice a droid's head off its shoulders. She growled threateningly as another attacked her but she lashed out with her other servo and transformed it into a blaster cannon. She fired and blew the droid's chest a part.
"Mommy!" Starscream shrieked making her spin around to see another droid picking up her children by the necks.
"No!" Sunblaze shrieked before lunging forward at the droid.
The droid spun its head to see her coming. It growled before throwing two of the sparklings into her to slow her down. It didn't even wait as it dove upward with the last one, the smallest in its grip.
Sunblaze had just barely caught Thundercracker in time as they collided with her. She felt her spark sink as she heard her youngest screaming hysterically as he was carried away. "No!" She shouted, clutching her other two. She quickly looked around before her optics landed on another Seeker running through the destroyed halls. She immediately shoved her two sparklings towards the mech, growling warningly at him. "Get my sparklings to safety! And if you fail, I will rip your spark out!" She snarled.
Terrified, the young Seeker nodded as he clutched the struggling two, watching as the matron dove up through the massive hole in the wall.
Starscream was still shrieking and kicking at the droid that had him in his filthy claws. He didn't care that they were flying high. He just wanted to get away from this monster!
Suddenly, the droid jerked as something landed hard on its back and released the sparkling. Even as a fiery hot blade slammed through it.
Starscream gasped as he found himself falling. He yelled out as he turned to see where he was falling to and shrieked at the long drop of the cliffside. He knew he was going to die if he remained falling. His optics closed tightly, he spread out his tiny stubs of wings, trying to kick on his small thrusters. He needed to fly! His very life depended on it!
Just then, something grabbed him from behind, starting him to opening his optics and look up. His spark gave a hopeful jolt as he saw his mother had been the one to have grabbed him from behind. She was in half transformation mode, trying to blast back into the air to avoid crashing into the side of the city cliffs.
"Hold on, Starscream! I have you!" Sunblaze screamed over the speeding winds and explosions. She pulled him close to her, holding onto him tightly.
Starscream was trembling against his mother before he looked over her shoulder and shrieked again in fright. He saw a droid coming at them, a blade in its claws ready to strike.
Sunblaze barely had time to spin around in the air before the droid's blade slammed into midsection. She had to wrench Starscream out of harm's way to avoid him being the one to receive it. She gasped in pain as the blade sunk in deep before she threw up a blaster cannon and blew the droid's head off.
Now starting to fall with her wound, Sunblaze could only clutch onto her son as tight as she could, as she forced herself upward, heading for the outskirts of the city. She knew she would never get to the city palace in time. She knew she was losing too much energon. She had to get her youngest to safety. She could hear him sobbing and feeling him rattling against her chassis.
Coming up to the large cliff side road, she landed hard, falling to her knee guards. She hissed in pain at the wound in her midsection, feeling the blade still there. She couldn't let Starscream see it. It would traumatize him.
Keeping him close to her, Sunblaze looked around before she spied a hole in the cliffside. She felt her spark jolt when she heard the screeches of battle droids coming now. She needed to hide her young one quick.
Diving towards the hole, she stuffed her alarmed Star into it. "Starscream, no matter what happens! Don't make a sound! Do not look out!" She warned him before pulling a steel boulder over the opening and spinning around to face her attackers.
There were four of them, big ones and armed lethally. They were coming in for the attack.
Inside, Starscream could hear his mother screaming a Vosian battle cry and then slams of metal hitting metal. He trembled violently against steel walls before he heard his mother scream in pain.
Against his mother's wishes, the youngling crawled closer to the opening, scratching out a crack to peer through. He needed to know what was happening. He wanted to see his mother.
And to his horror, he saw just in time as a droid sliced her head off her wings.
Slapping his servos across his mouth to keep himself from screaming, all the young Seeker could do was shake and tremble in fear. He felt a deep stabbing pain inside his spark but he fought with all of the strength he had to keep himself quiet.
From somewhere in the city, a horrible shriek belonging to his creator sounded, sounding pained before it died as quickly as it came. There was another stab into Starscream's spark, so painful that all he could do was offline to keep himself from shrieking.
And everything went silent and dark. Dreadfully dark and silent.